Apparatus for attaching a seal to an encapsulated window assembly

ABSTRACT

A seal attachment fixture is provided for attaching a seal to an encapsulated gasket disposed on a work piece, for example, an automotive window assembly. The seal attachment fixture includes wedge portions, which slidably move into contact with openable lip portions on the gasket, thus exposing a retention slot defined therein. With the gasket retention slot open, a seal is then inserted within the slot.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit, under 35 U.S.C. § 119(e), of U.S.Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 60/398,454, filed Jul. 25, 2002under 35 U.S.C. § 111(b), which application is incorporated herein inits entirety.

This application is a divisional application of and claims benefit,under 35 U.S.C. § 120, of co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No.10/442,470, filed May 21, 2003, now, U.S. Pat. No. 6,______, whichapplication is incorporated herein in its entirety.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention generally relates to a seal attachment fixtureand, more particularly, to a seal attachment fixture for an encapsulatedwindow assembly. Most particularly, the present invention relates to aseal attachment fixture for attaching a seal to an automotive windowwith an encapsulated gasket. A method for operating such a sealattachment apparatus is also disclosed.

Encapsulated window assemblies are well known in the art, where a firstside of the gasket has been disposed onto at least a portion of theperiphery of the window. The encapsulated window assembly may alsoinclude a means to: 1) mount the window assembly to a vehicle, 2) tominimize chipping and breaking of the window, and 3) to reduce noise,wind, and moisture from entering the vehicle. In addition, theencapsulated window assembly should be aesthetically pleasing.

Although the gasket is composed of plastic/rubber, the gasket materialis typically relatively rigid and not flexible enough to allow a secondside of the gasket to completely prevent noise, wind, and moisture fromentering the vehicle. For this reason it is common to provide additionalmeans to more reliably seal out these environmental elements.

One means that is used is to attach a more flexible plastic/rubber sealto the second side of the gasket. In the past the attachment of the sealto the gasket has been accomplished by using a gasket that has a femalefeature and/or retention slot defined along the second side, wherein theretention slot has lips covering the retention slot opening.

Next, a male portion of the seal is disposed within the gasket bymanually spreading the lips apart at the opening of the gasket retentionslot so as to allow entry of a male portion of the seal. When the maleportion of the seal is completely in place in that portion of theretention slot, the lips of the gasket are released, which results inthe seal being firmly seated.

This manual operation is continued until the entire male portion of theseal is firmly seated within the gasket. Thus, when the window isattached to a vehicle, the exterior portion of the seal is available tocompletely seal an area between the gasket and a vehicle aperturemounting surface.

There are, however, drawbacks to the abovementioned manual attachment ofthe seal. For example, an installer can damage the seal, the gasket, orwindow during manual seal installation. Also, by attaching the sealmanually within the gasket, the gasket may become bunched. Both of thesedrawbacks can result in the leakage of noise, wind, and moisture intothe vehicle compartment. In addition, manual attachment is timeconsuming and, therefore, costly.

Thus those skilled in the art continued to seek a solution to theproblem of how to provide a more reliable seal attachment means for anautomotive window and at a lower cost.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a seal attachment fixture that is usedfor attaching a flexible seal to a relatively rigid gasket, the gaskethaving openable lip portions on a second side of the gasket, opposite afirst side of the gasket that is disposed upon a work piece. The gasketmay extend around at least a portion of the work piece. The work pieceis preferably an encapsulated automotive window assembly.

The fixture comprises at least one fixture member and at least onelocating stop for holding a work piece. The work piece includes at leasta portion of a gasket having lip portions that define a retention slottherebetween. When the fixture member is moved into contact with thegasket, the fixture member urges the lip portions to open, thus exposingthe retention slot for seal insertion.

A method of attaching the seal to the gasket is provided where thegasket is disposed on the work piece that is positioned on the sealattachment fixture, the work piece having openable lip portions thatdefine the retention slot therebetween. The method comprises: 1) urgingthe separate fixture member into contact with the openable lip portionsof the gasket, wherein the fixture members cause the lips of the gasketto open, and thereby to expose the retention slot defined within thegasket, 2) inserting a portion of the flexible seal into the gasket byinserting a male portion of the seal between the open lip portions ofthe gasket, 3) moving the fixture members out of contact with thegasket, thus allowing the lips of the gasket to close over the maleportion of the flexible seal, and 4) removing the work piece withattached seal from the fixture.

Further objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparentfrom the following description and appended claims, reference being madeto the accompanying drawings forming a part of a specification, whereinlike reference characters designate corresponding parts of severalviews.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a seal attachment fixture, with arms extended,in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the seal attachment fixture of FIG.1 with arms retracted, taken along the 2-2 line of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an exploded cutaway cross-sectional view of the work piecewith gasket, seal, and fixture member of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is an exploded cutaway cross-sectional view of an edge of anassembled work piece with seal disposed within the gasket, in accordancewith the present invention; and

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of the seal of FIG. 4.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The present invention involves a seal attachment fixture 10 as shown inFIG. 1, where a work piece 22, for example, an automotive window withencapsulated gasket 24, is positioned within the seal attachment fixture10.

The seal attachment fixture 10 comprises a plate 26 (shown in FIG. 2), adrive 42 that is attached to the plate 26, a rotating hub mechanism 12,which is rotatably attached to the drive 42, and having at least twoarms 18, but preferably four arms 18. A first end of each arm 18 ispivotably attached to the rotating hub mechanism 12, while a second endof each arm 18 is pivotably attached to separate fixture members 14 thatare slidably attached to at least two rails 28. The seal attachmentfixture 10 also comprises at least one locating stops 16, but preferablya minimum of three (see FIG. 1), which are attached to the plate 26 andpossibly adjustably attached to the plate 26.

Initially, as FIG. 1 illustrates, the rotating hub mechanism 12 isrotated by the drive 42, for example, a pneumatic cylinder, an electricmotor, a hydraulic mechanism, or other rotating means that are known inthe art, in a first direction to extend the arms 18. The extension ofthe arms 18 provides clearance between the fixture members 14 and thework piece, so that the work piece 22 can be positioned on the locatingstops 16. The locating stops 16, which are positioned between theslidable fixture members 14 and inside of the gasket, are aligned withopenable gasket lip portions 34 (refer to FIG. 3). With the arms 18extended, as so described, the lips 34 are not in contact with thefixture members 14.

Next, the rotating hub mechanism 12 is rotated by the drive 42 in asecond direction so that the arms 18 are retracted, which causes thefixture members 14 to come into contact with the lips 34. This resultsin the fixture members 14 spreading the lips 34 open and exposing aretention slot 32. The retention slot 32 is preferably defined withinthe gasket 24 on a side opposite a side of the gasket 24 that isdisposed on the work piece 22.

A male portion 36 of a seal 20, as shown in FIG. 5, is inserted betweenthe lips 34 and within the retention slot 32 (shown in FIG. 3)throughout the gasket 24. Insertion of the seal 20 may be by anyappropriate method, for example, manually or robotically.

When the complete male portion 36 has been inserted into the retentionslot 32 around at least a portion of the periphery of the gasket 24, therotating hub mechanism 10 is rotated in the first direction so as toextend the arms 18. This rotation causes the arms 18 to slide thefixture members 14 out of contact with the lips 34, which close over themale portion 36 of the seal 20.

Thus, the work piece 22 is removed from the locating stops 16 with theseal male portion 36 attached to the gasket 24, while a seal exteriorportion 38 is exposed outside of the gasket 24. This exterior portion 38is then available for creating sealable contact between the work piece22 and an automotive vehicle window aperture (not shown).

FIG. 2 illustrates a cross-sectional view of the seal attachment fixtureof FIG. 1, taken along the 2-2 line of FIG. 1, however, with the arms 18retracted. Therein are shown the fixture members 14 causing the lips 34to be spread apart and exposing the gasket retention slot 32. FIG. 3shows an exploded cutaway cross-sectional view of the work piece 22 withthe lips 34 spread apart and the retention slot 32 exposed. It should benoted that the present invention may be practiced as shown where thefixture member 14 is pointed at the point of contact with the lips 34,but may also be non-pointed (not shown) and still be within the spiritand scope of the invention.

FIG. 4 illustrates an exploded cutaway cross-sectional view of an edgeof an assembled work piece 22 with the seal 20 disposed within thegasket retention slot 32. Shown in FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view ofthe seal 20 with the male portion 36 and the exterior portion 38. Theencapsulated gasket 24 may be composed of any suitable thermoplastic orthermoset material. The seal 20 may be composed of any suitableextrudable plastic material.

A method of attaching the flexible seal 20 to the rigid gasket 24 isprovided where the gasket 24 is disposed on the work piece 22, forexample, an encapsulated window assembly, that is positioned on the sealattachment fixture 10, the work piece 22 having openable lip portions 34that define the retention slot 32 therebetween. The method comprises: 1)urging the separate fixture members 14 into contact with the openablelip portions 34 of the gasket 24, wherein the fixture members 14 causethe lips 34 of the gasket 24 to open, and thereby to expose theretention slot 32 defined within the gasket 24, 2) inserting a portionof the flexible seal 20 into the gasket 24 by inserting a male portionof the seal 36 between the open lip portions 34 of the gasket 24, 3)moving the fixture members 14 out of contact with the gasket 24, thusallowing the lips 34 of the gasket 24 to close over the male portion 36of the flexible seal 20, and 4) removing the work piece 22 with attachedseal 20 from the fixture 10.

In accordance with the provisions of the patent statutes, the principlesand modes of operation of this invention have been described andillustrated in its preferred embodiments. However, it must be understoodthat the invention may be practiced otherwise than as specificallyexplained and illustrated without departing from its spirit or scope.

1. A seal insertion fixture comprising at least one fixture member, thefixture member capable of contacting a gasket that is affixed to atleast a portion of a work piece, the gasket having a pair of openablelip portions and a retention slot portion therebetween; wherein, whenthe fixture member contacts the exterior of at least one of the openablelip portions of the gasket, the lip portion opens, thus exposing theretention slot for seal insertion.
 2. The seal insertion fixture ofclaim 1, further comprising a drive for moving the fixture member. 3.The seal insertion fixture of claim 2, further comprising a rotating hubmechanism rotatably attached to the drive.
 4. The seal insertion fixtureof claim 3, wherein the rotating hub mechanism has at least two arms, afirst end of each arm pivotably attached to the rotating hub mechanismand a second end of each arm pivotably attached to separate wedgeportions.
 5. The seal insertion fixture of claim 4, wherein the wedgeportions are aligned with separate lip portions that are disposed on aside of the gasket opposite of where the gasket is disposed on the workpiece, each wedge portion being slidably attached to at least two rails.6. The seal insertion fixture of claim 5, wherein the seal is flexibleand the gasket is relatively rigid.
 7. The seal insertion fixture ofclaim 6, further comprising locating stops, where the work piece, onwhich the gasket has been affixed, has been initially placed.
 8. Theseal insertion fixture of claim 7, further comprising a plate, to whichthe drive and locating stops are attached.
 9. The seal insertion fixtureof claim 8, wherein the locating stops are adjustably attached to theplate.
 10. The seal insertion fixture of claim 1, further comprisinglocating stops, where the work piece, on which the gasket has beenaffixed, has been initially placed.
 11. A fixture for attaching aflexible seal to a relatively rigid gasket, the relatively rigid gaskethaving openable lip portions that define a retention slot therebetweenon a side of the gasket opposite the side of the gasket disposed upon awork piece, comprising: a plate; a drive attached to the plate; arotating hub mechanism rotatably attached to the drive, and having atleast two arms, a first end of each arm pivotably attached to therotating hub mechanism; separate wedge portions pivotably attached to asecond end of each arm, where the wedge portions are aligned with thelip portions of the seal and each wedge portion is slidably attached toat least two rails; and at least three locating stops that areadjustably attached to the plate.
 12. The seal fixture of claim 11,wherein the gasket is encapsulated onto the periphery of the work piece,which work piece is an automotive glazing.